Romney keeps heat on Newt

On the plane here, he assailed the former House speaker, who placed a distant second in Florida last night, for failing to be a true conservative, pointing to the money Gingrich would spend on a lunar colony and his stance on global warming.

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“I really think the fact the conservatives in Florida said they supported me makes sense,” Romney said. “And you know, the other candidates are trying to say that they’re the conservative, and you stop and say, ‘Now wait a second.’”

The ex-Massachusetts governor used as ammunition the ad Gingrich cut on climate change with Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi, cited his criticism of GOP Rep. Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan as “right-wing social engineering” and even slammed Gingrich for supporting individual health care mandates as late as 2009.

“I’m not saying he’s not conservative, I’m just saying he’s not the pure conservative he would have people believe, and I think the folks in Florida saw through that when they saw people debate,” Romney stated.

Romney said that reporters can expect Gingrich to continue making promises to voters about local issues that are bound to resonate, but bust the budget.

“We’ve seen a pattern of him going to each state and making promises of the things he’ll do for that state. I would expect to see that in Nevada,” he said. “I’ll expect that you’ll have him come to Nevada and say something that he feels is attractive or popular in Nevada, and it will probably cost money,” he said. “We have not heard from him how he’s going to balance the budget.”

Romney stopped in Minnesota on the way to Nevada — which holds its caucuses on Feb. 4 and in which the ex-governor is favored — after trouncing Gingrich in Florida’s primary on Tuesday. In his victory speech, Romney clearly pivoted to attacks on President Barack Obama and the general election. But today, he stressed that the former speaker, who vowed to press on Tuesday night, would not be forgotten. And although Romney won by a commanding margin in Florida, he still lost the self-described “very conservative” vote to Gingrich, according to exit polls.